Stroud Water Research Center is proud to announce that David Wise, watershed restoration manager, has been named the 2025 recipient of the Fran Flanigan Environmental Leadership Award by the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay.
This prestigious award recognizes exceptional leadership and dedication to restoring cleaner rivers and streams across the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. It is named in honor of Fran Flanigan, the Alliance’s founding executive director, who helped set the foundation for collaborative environmental work.
The award was presented on September 4 at the Alliance’s Taste in Pennsylvania event, held at The Railroad House Inn / Perry Street Cellar. The gathering featured signature dishes from chefs across Pennsylvania’s Chesapeake Watershed region and live music to celebrate the region’s natural and cultural richness.
A Career Deeply Rooted in Watershed Restoration
At the Stroud Center, Wise leads projects and programs that support farmers and rural landowners with both technical guidance and financial incentives to adopt conservation practices and establish forested stream buffers in southeastern Pennsylvania. He especially focuses on refining reforestation methods, convening peer groups across the mid-Atlantic for knowledge sharing, and conducting on-the-ground research to improve buffer restoration success.
In an interview with Alliance CEO Kate Fritz, Wise reflected on the importance of headwater streams:
“The vast majority of the stream miles in the eastern U.S. … are, in essence, the capillary beds for our much larger waterways. … To be captivated by the larger streams is to miss where the efficient opportunities are to make differences in the downstream water quality and stream. … If we fix things upstream, the downstream areas can take care of themselves much better.”
The Stroud Center has long maintained a fruitful partnership with the Alliance, working together on restoration projects throughout the Chesapeake Bay region, including efforts at Little Conestoga Creek in Overlook Park, Lancaster County.
Discover more about Wise’s contributions and leadership:
- David Wise Receives DCNR Watershed Forestry Leadership Award.
- David Wise Recognized as a Good Natured Pennsylvanian.
- An article he authored on delivering eastern brook trout restoration: Bringing Eastern Brook Trout Back to Red Clay Creek.
